- The demons, the resistance -
Lucifer was getting closer to depletion as his fight with Baastra continued. Every time he tried getting close, Baastra would fly out of range. It was clear to him that the demon commander wanted a battle of only magic.
Mileera was dashing around, shooting bolts at Heinrich and Oliver. She knew if she could take them down she would have free reign to shoot the others.
Lao could see the growing depletion on Heinrich's and Oliver's faces. He couldn't wait any longer. He activated his contract and shot towards Mileera.
At the frontline of the resistance army, Kahvis was dodging around with a broken arm. Every attack tried against Baal was met with the demon lord's magic.
Yamato was slowly gaining the upper hand against Urdros.
"Your sister was more of a challenge!" Yamato mocked.
Urdros lost himself to his rage. He was completely ignoring his magic and still attempting to finish Yamato off with his hammer.
Saint was still in the center of the battlefield. As the demons crashed into the resistance soldiers she would look for anyone she could heal, healing any non-lethal damage quickly. The longer the soldiers fought, the more inspiring her presence was.
- Lucifer, investigation team, grim, Baastra, Mileera -
Near the back, Mileera and Lao were exchanging hits. Despite Mileera's speed, Lao's technical abilities, and healing magic, allowed him to gain an advantage against her. He wouldn't let up as he chased her.
Sabu switched to supporting Lucifer. He ran over to Elijah and proposed a risky plan.
"I'm going to grab the demon's attention, you shoot his wings when he goes for me."
"Fine," Elijah responded.
Sabu waited for his moment and blasted himself into the air behind Baastra. The demon commander had heard him approaching and shot flames in response.
Lucifer took this chance to get closer to Baastra. He pulled his dagger out and held it in his mouth.
Baastra covered himself in a sphere of flames and expanded it. He didn't understand how Mileera had been occupied.
"Just fire," Peter said to Elijah.
Elijah didn't bother arguing. He just assumed Peter knew better and fired his bolt where he thought Baastra's wings were.
Baastra could feel the bolt hitting his shoulder as he ascended, causing him to lose focus briefly.
Lucifer used the opening and weaved Baastra's sphere of fire around him. He released the dagger from his mouth, grabbed the handle, and hugged Baastra as he severed the demon's right wing. He held his grip around Baastra as the two fell out of the sky, weaving the demon's desperate blasts of flames.
Baastra and Lucifer hit the mud of Bolotano, splashing it on Peter and Elijah. The mud made it difficult for Lucifer to keep Baastra pinned down as the demon flailed around with their fire magic.
"PETER!" Lucifer shouted behind him.
Peter ran in, sword in his right hand, weaved Baastra's flames around him and stabbed his sword into the demon's chest.
Lucifer grabbed the handle of the sword and twisted it, drilling a hole into Baastra's chest. He pulled the sword out of the demon's limp body and stabbed them in the head. The moment after his kill he couldn't hold back his ragged breathing. He threw Peter the sword, stood still, and tried to gather enough strength to keep moving.
Mileera was losing her patience fighting Lao. Her nose and jaw had been broken, the side of her stomach was exposed from a mud spike shot by Oliver, and her back was burnt. She was struggling just to keep surge going. She couldn't believe how much she had overestimated her abilities. Lao hit her one more time in the face, knocking her out of surge.
Lao didn't give Mileera a moment to rest. He kept up his assault, breaking her arms and legs as she tried to counterattack, eventually knocking her down into the mud. He was about to stomp her neck when he saw her readying a bolt. He backstepped in response.
The moment Mileera stood up, Julia ran her through with her curved swords. She brought the swords out of the demon's side and beheaded them.
Lucifer walked up holding Baastra's head.
"Take the heads," Lucifer ordered.
"Why?" Oliver asked.
"Saint is building our morale, let's destroy the demons'," Lucifer explained.
- Yamato, Urdros, Kahvis, Baal -
Urdros's body was riddled with cuts. He was leaning on his hammer and breathing heavily. He couldn't believe how easily Yamato was handling him. He wanted to switch to using his magic but couldn't focus due to the blood loss. He fell back into the crowd of demons that were pushing towards the resistance.
Yamato started cutting his way through the demons. He wouldn't let a single one of them get near Kahvis and Baal no matter what.
Kahvis had been kiting Baal around, trying their best to keep the demon lord stalled for now. They would feint a magic attack to get Baal to activate his magic in response.
As confident as Baal was about his safety, he still wasn't risking taking any serious hits from Kahvis. If he thought there was any chance that the unknown could hurt him, he would activate his magic. He didn't realize how quickly he was draining his mana by toggling his magic on and off.
As Yamato was cutting down demons he noticed a large mud spike shoot up in between the resistance and demon armies.
- Lucifer, Peter, grim-
"Make a path for us. The moment we're in the middle of the battlefield Oliver will mount these heads," Lucifer planned with Peter and the other two Grim.
Peter and Julia took the front while Lucifer held the demon commanders' heads in the back with Rebecca and Oliver. They ran as quickly as they could.
They went to the side of the resistance army. They had a small force of demons in front of them as they got closer to the center of the battlefield. Peter and Julia pushed ahead and started to cut a path for the others.
Lucifer and Oliver arrived in the middle of the battlefield with Peter, Julia, and Rebecca covering them. Oliver made two small mud spikes that Lucifer mounted Mileera and Baastra's heads on. Oliver raised his hands and created two large spikes that could easily be seen across the battle.
- Urdros, Baal, Yamato, Kahvis -
"Baastra..." Urdros realized whose heads were mounted.
The two mounted heads were the final breaking point for the curled-horn demons. Their fear from Death's rampage the day before was overtaking their reasoning. This, combined with the high morale of the resistance soldiers that were supported by Saint, lead to a one-sided slaughter.
'What's going on?' Baal wondered as he continued to chase Kahvis.
"You might want to retreat," Kahvis mocked.
No one, except for Death, knew the full extent of what was happening.
- Death, Moloch, Kut'thar, Satan -
The demon that had gone to warn Moloch flew even closer.
"You need to stop this attack!" The demon shouted.
"ENOUGH!" Moloch roared in anger. "First Kut'thar, now you!" He stopped his attack against Death.
"I'm sorry, sir," The demon apologized as they flew behind Moloch.
"Fucking lower-ra-" Moloch was interrupted by the feeling of his wings being severed.
As Moloch fell to the ground he could see the demon that had warned him. It was Satan, smiling and waving.
Moloch felt a blinding rage as he fell. He focused his magic on attacking Satan with every drop of blood he had been controlling. What he didn't expect, was Satan flying down towards him.
Death noticed that Moloch's attacks had stopped. Not only that but also that most of the demons were looking up.
'What's going on?' Death wondered as he rode around.
Death gave a quick glance to the sky, completely astonished by what he was seeing. The image of Satan chasing a torn-winged Moloch overloaded his mind. The only thing he knew was that he needed to get where the two demons were about to land.
Kut'thar appeared at the backline of Moloch's army.
"Where have you be-" The demon's head was lopped off by Kut'thar's sword.
"You had your chance," Kut'thar smiled.
Behind Kut'thar were a number of demons with forward-facing horns and wrappings over their eyes. They proceeded to rip their way through the unaware soldiers of Moloch's army.
Death arrived at the small crater of mud that Moloch had made. Satan was holding Moloch up by the face, digging one of his claws into the four-horned demon's eye. A shower of blood covered the three as Moloch struggled and shouted.
"Cast your magic!" Satan shouted. "I would think a torturer would have a higher pain tolerance." He laughed.
["YOU!"] Death shouted at Satan.
Satan looked over at him and dropped his smile.
"Go kill Baal already. That unknown doesn't stand a chance."
There was a part of Death that thought this was an extremely convoluted ploy by Satan. His curiosity kept him from moving.
["WHY?"] Death shouted.
"I'll explain later," Satan scowled. "My forces are currently dismantling this one's-" He dug his claw deeper into Moloch's eye. "-So please, go, kill, Baal."
Given Moloch's expression, Death could tell this wasn't a deception. He left to go handle Baal, still confused by what was happening.
- Death, Urdros, Baal, Kahvis, Yamato -
As Death got closer to Baal's side of things he noticed the broken expressions of the demons. He could see Urdros among the crowd and decided to finish what he started.
Urdros was looking for a healer among his allies.
"KEEP FIGHTING!" He shouted at the wide-eyed demons. "DON'T JUST STAND AROUND!"
As he was shouting he noticed Death's approach. He lifted his hammer, desperate to protect himself. His feet wouldn't move, and his voice wouldn't come out. Everything that had happened was now hitting him full force. He made a half-hearted swing at Death before losing his head to the scythe.
Death didn't stop after decapitating Urdros. He was heading straight for Baal, ready to finish this battle and question Satan.
Baal was madly chasing Kahvis. He had landed blows on the unknown but not enough to finish them off. His breathing was getting heavier as he neared depletion. He wasn't aware of how terrible the situation had gotten for him.
Kahvis could see Death approaching Baal from behind. They stood still.
"Goodbye," Kahvis said.
Baal went to jump after Kahvis. The moment he did he felt Death's scythe pierce his chest.
"Rider?" Baal looked behind him.
Baal turned the upper half of his body black as Death started to rip the scythe's blade upwards. The darkened skin didn't stop the blade's movement in his body.
Death's scythe had now split Baal's body, creating an image similar to that of a tree that had been partially split down the middle.
As Baal's split body fell to the ground, Kahvis came over and stabbed the demon in the head.
"What's happening at the front?" Kahvis asked Death.
"Satan might have betrayed the two demon lords," Death informed.
Yamato ran back to Kahvis. Kahvis informed him of the situation.
"You don't believe him do you?" Yamato asked Death.
"We'll see," Death responded as he rode back to the front.